A toddler backpack, a baby toy, and a cape

I wanted to make a backpack for Camille for Christmas. Mostly it will be for her to take things to church. I hate feeling like a pack mule and she is old enough to carry a couple toys and snacks. It's big enough and hopefully well made enough that she'll be able to use it for a few years. The problem I found was that the toddler backpacks I liked online came from the same pattern that cost $8. The point of me making it was so it would be less expensive than buying, and I wasn't going to buy a pattern for $8. I was going to wing it until I found this tutorial. It was more in depth than I wanted, using piping and putting in a lining and a pocket. I just used the pattern pieces and measurements and constructed the backpack on my own. I used canvas duck for the main fabric and the padded straps, and I bought nylon webbing for the handle and bottom strap things. I had plans of using bias tape to cover the seams inside sort of like a Hong Kong seam finish. I started, but I got the wrong kind of tape, and it was difficult, so I stopped. I'm really happy with the finished backpack.

Camille was Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. I made the cape. It was simple, especially sine I made it from a clearance felt remnant that didn't require hemming. I added the pom pom trim with a hot glue gun.

I made these back in May. Mom gave me the pattern, and I had leftover rattle/bell/squeaker things to go inside. They are cute. I hate doing embroidery, and I still can't do a French Knot. I sent them to my friend Whitney for her baby boy. Hopefully they didn't immediately fall apart.

Mummy Costume

I decided I was going to make Russell his costume for Halloween this year. I had grand visions at the beginning of sewing a super awesome costume like Brobee from Yo Gabba Gabba. Then I realized that I wasn't that dedicated to making a costume.

So, I spent a little bit of time thinking of something that would be a good traditional costume, but also pretty easy to sew. That's why I decided on a mummy.

There were few tutorials on how to make a toddler mummy costume, so at first I was just going to sew lots of strips from an old sheet onto long johns from Savers. Fail. Non-stretchy cotton sewn onto stretchy long johns didn't work.

Then I found a lady online who made a mummy costume for her toddler. She sewed some super simple pants and then a simple peasant top and that was the costume. She sewed the strips onto the fabric before sewing them into the shirt and pants. It was easy! The only other minor problem I had was that I apparently didn't measure Russell's upper arms very well because the sleeves were super tight on his bulging bi-ceps and shoulders.

This was before I put the finishing touches on the costume.

I thought I'd post some pictures of things I've made lately.

Lauren needed a blanket for her "new" bed, a twin bed.  So for her birthday, I made this.  I like the colors and thought it turned out well.  But you can't really see the "Tossed Nine-Patch" pattern I was going for.

I made a blanket and burp cloth for Cinderella Scoresby, who will be here any day.

This is not a sewing project, but I used up the last of the artificial hydrangeas from Janet's wedding and some of the tulle (there's still plenty more!) to make this wreath.  I really like it, but I think the scale is wrong for our door.

Lauren and Andrew want to be Mickey and Minnie for Halloween and Lauren asked me to make her a dress.  So I thought I might as well make Andrew some pants.  I think they both turned out cute.  By the way, I know that Minnie wears a red dress, but sometimes she wears pink and that's what Lauren wanted.

A Baby Sunhat

Camille needed a new sun hat. We could sort of stuff her old ones from last summer down on her head, but they didn't go down all the way, and it probably wasn't too comfortable for her. So I sewed her a new one. It's pretty cute, and I used a scrap of fabric (from Mom), so it was free.

I used this tutorial. There was a blind-stitching part that didn't work out too well, but I made it work by sewing an extra seam that ended up being extra topstitching on the outside of the hat. And I made the ruffle a little bigger by not reading the directions well enough.

I thought ties would be the best way to keep the hat on Camille's head, but I couldn't even tie the hat before before she would get it off. So I have a bunch of pictures like this:

I thought maybe if I held it on, she would eventually give up trying to take it off, but she is one stubborn determined child.

  

Here it is not on her head, so you can get an idea of what the shape is.

And here is a picture of a strong-willed baby, happy because she's not wearing her hat (and because the cat let Camille touch her).

                                     

Play mat

One of the other gifts I made this Christmas was a dinosaur play mat. I saw the idea on Pinterest and couldn't wait to try it out. Luckily, Russell had Tanner in the cousin gift exchange, so I had the chance to make it (Russell still doesn't care much for toys like that.)

 

We sent along a package of dinosaurs so Tanner can have fun playing dinosaurs on his little mat. 

It was a pretty easy project. I just used her pattern. I accidentally got the iron on stuff that also required you to sew it as well, so I added some nice hand stitched details to keep all the little pieces on. I had tons of fun making it and kept showing Ben how cute it was as I was making it.

Christmas Gifts and Post-Christmas Projects

I made several Christmas gifts this year, and I'm happy with how they turned out. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of the finished projects.

For Brian's mom I made this family picture tree. This picture was just to help me remember how I had the photos set up so I could hang them on the branch appropriately. I used brown crochet thread to hang the pictures, and I hot glued the top of each loop to the branch so the thread wouldn't slide down the branches. If I were to make another one, I would try to find some way to secure the pictures better. They still swung around quite a bit and had to be rearranged.

I made a set of these blocks (the girl one) for our niece, Alana. I don't know how she likes them, but I certainly had fun playing with them before I gave them away.

And I also made a geoboard for her. I got the idea from this site, but I didn't really use the tutorial. I left the board I used plain wood, but after I finished it, I wished I would have painted it. I also used Mod Podge and acrylic sealer on the board to try and keep little fingers from being able to pull the pushpins out.

Camille got some toys with pieces for Christmas, so I whipped up (ha!) these toy bags for them. I've made a bag like this before. The tutorial is from Make It-Love It. I made one with Christmas fabric for her Little People Nativity and one with girly fabric for her Little People princesses. I had some sewing machine issues and some seamstress issues, but they both got finished somehow.